Overview
- Interim Sheriff Joe Smith, appointed Monday, is now the office’s only employee after two deputies quit that day.
- A grand jury on Friday indicted former Sheriff Danny Sanchez, his former deputy Keith Schultz, the undersheriff, and two deputies on counts that include abuse of a corpse, assault, and official misconduct.
- Prosecutors say Sanchez and Schultz took only a skull from an October 2024 scene, left other bones behind, and delivered the skull in a used grocery bag without chain-of-custody labels.
- In a separate case, filings allege Tasers were used on a man in a mental-health crisis at the sheriff’s office, causing injury, while a supervisor failed to intervene or report.
- Sanchez resigned and several deputies were placed on leave, and outside agencies such as the Colorado State Patrol, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and nearby police are providing patrols and investigative support.